Law has decided streetcar issue

Updated 4:47 pm, Friday, June 20, 2014

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Blayne Tucker is a San Antonio attorney.

Blayne Tucker is a San Antonio attorney.

Law has decided streetcar issue

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SAN ANTONIO — Much has ensued regarding VIA Metropolitian Transit's funding of the streetcar project. As unique as San Antonio is as a city, I don't think this should be an area where we set ourselves apart from progress in the 21st century, when vehicle congestion will worsen as we continue to grow.

The plan will reduce bus traffic downtown by 60 percent, after all. Without going into the reasoning further, however, the debate is over, because the issue has already been decided under Texas law.

According to Texas transportation law, the VIA board is mandated to adopt a strategic plan that establishes the authority's mission and goals. The plan must set policies and service priorities to guide the authority in developing a budget and allocating resources.

The law also states that a transit authority exercises public and essential governmental functions and is a matter of public necessity. And an authority may acquire, construct, develop, own, operate and maintain a transit authority system and shall determine routes.

VIA held necessary public meetings, and public support for the streetcar project was overwhelming. But supporters have gone into hiding since the funding became approved. It's only now that outside special interests have funded an effort to revisit the topic. The streetcar system will be built using existing funds, and since no new tax is needed, a referendum isn't permitted under Texas law.

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Since the Legislature has deferred transit authority to the VIA board, the decision is law. The appropriate vehicle for challenging any valid law or decision, in this instance, is with the Legislature.

Opponents want the public to think that if enough people sign the petition to amend the city charter, this could reverse the already-funded program by invalidating the authority of the VIA board. What the special-interest groups are not telling the public is that taxpayers would be responsible for the million-dollar bill, if this turns into an actual justiciable controversy fought in a courtroom among competing governmental entities.

The Koch brothers and their PACs support many varied causes, but they all have in common their self-interested assets in Koch Industries. These include oil, energy, chemicals and financial products. In the latter instance, they lobby against financial reform when their interests lie in the derivatives market — the investment vehicles that nearly collapsed the entire banking system.

So once again, why are they interested in a now irrelevant debate about an issue that has already been decided by a VIA board created under state law?

Whether you lean toward the adoration or vilification of Mayor Julián Castro and Judge Nelson Wolff, their accomplishments and accolades have been numerous throughout their public service here. Nevertheless, they are both Democrats, and the Koch brothers tend to disfavor Democratic candidates.

The trajectory of Castro is set for Washington, D.C. It's well-established there is no love lost between the Koch brothers and the Democratic Party. Castro, who gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, on the other hand, is closely aligned with the president, members of the administration and the party at large.

The Koch brothers activities are an effort to perpetuate the streetcar debate, cloaked in, but not out of consideration for the hyper-local interests of our city and community as a whole. Therefore, it becomes incumbent upon the voting public to become informed and acknowledge the motivations of their efforts to meddle in the community affairs of San Antonio: to oust and discredit Democratic candidates.

Do we, as residents of San Antonio, want to allow outsiders to generate political chaos and steer our civic decisions? This isn't about the streetcar project. This is about whether we will succumb to the special interests of groups outside our city that are maliciously toying with our community as though it's their own personal political experiment.